Public goods in the field: Katrina evacuees in Houston.

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Public goods in the field: Katrina evacuees in Houston.

1. Introduction

Crises and disasters, whether natural or man-made, are defined by conditions of uncertainty, disorder, and stress. This raises the question of whether social cooperation is sustainable in the aftermath of a disaster. In this research, we focus on cooperation with a public goods game played by individuals evacuated from New Orleans to Houston after Hurricane Katrina. We ask whether stress affects how individuals contribute to a public good in the aftermath of a natural disaster.

The study predominantly focuses on African-American evacuees from New Orleans who were relocated to Houston-area shelters in the weeks immediately after Hurricane Katrina. In this study, 352 evacuees participated in small groups across six different Houston evacuation shelters from September 10 through 19, 2005. The study consisted of several standard experiments and a questionnaire. The experiments reported here are adaptations of "dictator" and "public goods" experiments that measure cooperation among Katrina evacuees. We find strong evidence of group cooperation in the Houston area shelters. We also find an independent negative effect of stress on cooperation.

2. Motivation

On the morning of August 29, 2005, after the passage of Hurricane Katrina over the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, levees designed to protect the city of New Orleans from flood surges gave way and parts of New Orleans began to fill rapidly with water. Many of those who stayed behind sought shelter by moving to the Superdome (and later to the New Orleans Convention Center), although many remained trapped on ...

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